Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

News 2019

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CAS in Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine - Registration open

18.12.2019 – The first course of advanced studies in Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine starts in May 2020. Registration is now open. Continue reading

Winter School 2020: Free places available

18.12.2019 – Due to cancellations, there are free places available in the Winter School 2020. Continue reading

ESTHER Switzerland is opening a new Call for Proposals

18.12.2019 – ESTHER Switzerland is a network that engages Swiss hospitals and other health institutions in effective and sustainable North-South partnerships. Since 2016, the ESTHER Switzerland Secretariat is hosted by the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) in Bern. Continue reading

Highlighting HIV and cancer in commemoration of World AIDS Day

10.12.2019 – Results from a collaborative research between the ISPM and the South African National Cancer Registry has resulted in a nationwide campaign on HIV and cancer in South Africa. Continue reading

Uniform and complete cancer registration in Switzerland

09.12.2019 – The Cancer Registration Act enters into force on 1 January 2020. Press release of the National Agency of Cancer Registration (NACR) and the Childhood Cancer Registry (ChCR). Continue reading

Strengthening the cooperation ISPM, Bern and Harvard

09.12.2019 – On December 11, 2019, Oscar Franco, Director of ISPM Bern will be giving a seminar at the Harvard T.H. Chan school of Public Health, co-sponsored by the departments of epidemiology and nutrition. During his visit he will strengthen the cooperation between ISPM, the University of Bern, and Harvard.

Innovative Teaching at ISPM

04.12.2019 – ISPM not only does innovative research, but innovative teaching, too. The ISPM Teaching Office joined the University of Bern's Promoting Innovative Teaching (FIL) project and received funding to develop and implement an adaptive online quiz for medical students in their fifth year. Continue reading

CAS in Clinical Research in Health Care Organisations – registration open

02.12.2019 - The next course of advanced studies in clinical research starts with the kickoff meeting on the 23rd of April 2020. Registration is now open. Continue reading

GHS Symposium 2019 Best Poster winner

25.11.2019 – Virginia Chiocchia, PhD student in the Evidence Synthesis Methods group at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), won the Prize for Best Poster at the 11th Symposium GHS held at Parkhotel Gunten on 19th and 20th November 2019. Continue reading

Four ISPM Professors among the list of Highly Cited Researchers 2018

22.11.2019 – Professors Georgia Salanti, Matthias Egger, Marcel Zwahlen and Oscar H. Franco from ISPM Bern have been included in the 2018 list of world’s most influential researchers. Continue reading

Two new PhD students in Sexual and Reproductive Health

31.07.2019 – Diana Buitrago won a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship and a SSPH+ GlobalP3HS Fellowship to study «The science of prevalence». Ranjana Gigi won a Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences MD-PhD award to study «Genital tract infections, the vaginal microbiome and preterm birth in South Africa». Continue reading

Network meta-analyses: why, what, and how.

05.11.2019 – Interview with Georgia Salanti at the Effective Statistician. Continue reading

The new Climate Change & Health research group at ISPM has just started

04.10.2019 – Our new research group on Climate Change and Health, led by Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera, has just been launched. The group will investigate the impacts of climate change on health, with particular focus on the evaluation of adaptation strategies, mitigation policies and air pollution co-benefits. Continue reading

SSPH+ ScienceFlashTalk Winner

10.09.2019 – Serra Lem Asangbeh, PhD student at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), has won the second of two events of the 2019 SSPH+ ScienceFlashTalk Award at the Swiss Public Health Conference in Winterthur on 28 August 2019. Continue reading

Georgia Salanti was elected president of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology

22.08.2019 – The Society for Research Synthesis Methodology is a cross disciplinary society that supports and promotes the development and use of innovative and robust methods of research synthesis. Continue reading

SNSF Ambizione Grant on upper airways disease in Primary Ciliary Dyskinesiathis

22.08.2019 – Myrofora Goutaki has been awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione grant to characterise and provide first evidence for the management of upper airways disease in patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia in a large multi-national project. Continue reading

Read this before it’s out of date: Zika Open Access Project in @NatureIndex

02.08.2019 – Living systematic reviews can keep up to date with research on Zika virus, a fast-moving field. Journalist Jon Brock features the PhD project of ISPM PhD student Michel Counotte «Zika virus: causality, open science and risks of emerging infectious diseases». Continue reading

National Strategy against Cancer – «every number is being used»

23.07.2019
The Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR) – a success story since its foundation in 1976. A challenge with the cancer registration law coming into force in 2020. Continue reading

Professor Oscar H Franco appointed as Adjunct Professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health

10.07.2019
Professor Oscar H Franco, Director of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) in Bern, has been appointed as Adjunct Professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Continue reading

Young Adult Survey Switzerland2019 – Band 2 front screenshot

Suicide ideation continues to be high in Swiss young adults

08.07.2019
Suicide ideation is a well-known risk factor contributing to early mortality in young adults. The long-term project, «Young Adult Survey Switzerland» (YASS) 2014/15 has shown that the proportion of Swiss young men with suicidal thoughts has since 2010/11 remained fairly stable, and high, at about 12%. Continue reading

From left to right: Sergey A. Boytsov - General Director, Nana V. Pogosova - Deputy General Director for Research and Preventive Cardiology, Oscar H Franco - Director ISPM, Hugo Saner - Adjunct Professor ISPM

Agreement on joint academic and scientific activities focused on cardiovascular disease prevention

26.06.2019
The Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) and the University of Bern signed an agreement with the Federal State Budgetary Organization National Cardiology Research Center of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The objective of this agreement is to develop joint academic and scientific activities mainly focused on cardiovascular disease prevention. Continue reading

Figure adapted from Rohner E, Bütikofer L, Schmidlin K, et al. Cervical cancer risk in women living with HIV across four continents: A multicohort study. Int J Cancer. 2019 Jun 19. doi: 10.1002/ijc.32260.

Global disparities in cervical cancer rates among women with HIV

24.06.2019
A study by an international group of researchers led by a team at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, found that the incidence rates of cervical cancer are particularly high among women living with HIV in South Africa or Latin America. Continue reading

Prof. Dr. Thomas Zeltner joins ISPM as Honorary Professor

13.06.2019
Prof. Dr. Thomas Zeltner has an outstanding career in public health. Since 1992 he has been Professor of Public Health at the University of Bern and is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health (Boston). He serves as Deputy Chair of the University Council of the Medical University of Vienna (Austria). Continue reading

Primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases for Albanian-speaking migrants living in Switzerland

12.06.2019
In the framework of a new pilot project between the Research Group on Migration and Health and Diaspora TV Switzerland, we produced a video on the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases for Albanian-speaking migrants living in Switzerland, with the collaboration of Dr. Taulant Muka, Leader of the Research Group on Cardiometabolic Health. Continue reading

Carmen de Jong at the Swiss Conference for Pediatrics (SGP)

ISPM PhD student Carmen de Jong wins prize for best oral presentation

12.06.2019
Carmen de Jong won the prize for best oral presentation of the SwissPedNet Translational & Clinical Research session with her talk «Diagnosing asthma accurately in school-aged children suspected to have asthma» at the Swiss Conference for Pediatrics (SGP). Continue reading

Two members of the ISPM staff nominated Fellows of SSPH+

20.05.2019
Two members of the ISPM staff have been nominated Fellows of SSPH+: Taulant Muka, Leader of the Research Group on Cardiometabolic Health, and Luciano Ruggia, Leader of the Research Group on Migration and Health. Continue reading

Inauguration of the Bern Center for Precision Medicine (BCPM)

17.05.2019
Precision medicine “tailored” to individual patients is regarded as the medicine of the future. The new Bern Center for Precision Medicine will exploit synergies and strengthen the medicinal location in Bern. The Bern Center for Precision Medicine is an initiative founded by the Canton, the University, and the University Hospital of Bern. Continue reading

For a stronger new Swiss Law on tobacco products

15.05.2019
ISPM joins forces with other public health actors to advocate for a stronger Swiss Law on tobacco products. The new law should better protect the youth from tobacco consumption, should forbid advertisement for tobacco products and should aim at a decrease of tobacco consumption in the Swiss population. Continue reading

Teacher of the year 2018 in Master of Public Health

06.05.2019
Julia Bohlius has been awarded as «Teacher of the year 2018» in the three University MPH program for her course «Einführung in systematische Reviews und Meta-Analysen». Continue reading

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE): Outcomes to examine after two years of treatment with swallowed topical corticosteroids

SNSF Grant on quality of care in eosinophilic esophagitis

05.04.2019
Ekaterina Safroneeva has been awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation grant to develop process-of-care measures and identify long-term treatment targets for adults with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Continue reading

Teacher of the year 2018

02.04.2019
Thomas Abel has been selected as «Teacher of 2018» in the three University MPH program for his course «Grundlagen der Gesundheitswissenschaft und Sozialepidemiologie». Continue reading

Report about Medicus Mundi Switzerland (MMS) in Television

25.03.2019
MMSs new manifesto «Health for all in one generation» as well as the work of the network MMS attracted the attention of Ticino television and was presented in a multi-minute report by the broadcaster Il Quotidiano. ISPM is one of the 50 organizations members of the MMS network. Continue reading

ISPM2030 – Vision, Aim, Mission online

21.03.2019
The 2018 report «ISPM2030 – Vision, Aim, Mission» is now available online. Continue reading

Portrait article about Matthias Egger in journal «The Lancet. Infectious diseases.»

14.03.2019
A portrait article about Matthias Egger was published in the March issue of the journal «The Lancet. Infectious diseases.». In the same issue, the publication «Drug susceptibility testing and mortality in patients treated for tuberculosis in high-burden countries: a multicentre cohort study» was also published. Continue reading

Video podcast

27.02.2019
Faster and trustworthy guidelines for shared decision making: Experience from the BMJ Rapid Recommendations - Seminar by Dr. Thomas Agoritsas, 21.02.2019 Watch the pocast

CAS in Clinical Research in Health Care Organisations – application deadline

15.02.2019
One month left to sign up for the next course of advanced studies in clinical research – application deadline March 15, 2019. Continue Reading

Mortality according to drug resistance, concordance or discordance of drug susceptibility test results, and treatment adequacy

Drug-resistant tuberculosis: high mortality rate due to inaccurate tests

08.02.2019
Inaccurate tests carried out on tuberculosis patients in developing countries often fail to reliablydetect resistance to drugs, leading to incorrect treatment and a higher mortality rate. These are the results of study by an international group of researchers led by a team at the University of Bern published today. Continue Reading

Geographical distribution of people reporting having been vaccinated

Trends in influenza vaccination uptake in Switzerland: Swiss Health Survey 2007 and 2012

28.01.2019
It’s influenza (flu) season again in Switzerland, and this week the virus reached the epidemic threshold. Flu takes more lives than any other infectious disease in Europe, but a simple and effective yearly vaccine can reduce the chance you will catch it. Unfortunately, fewer people overall, and especially fewer elderly people, are opting to be vaccinated for seasonal flu. Continue Reading

10th Swiss Epidemiology Winter School started

22.01.2019
The 10th Swiss Epidemiology Winter School takes place during this week in Wengen from January 21st to 26th 2019. Read more

Read the 2018 news

News 2019

Winter School 2020: Free places available

Due to cancellations, there are free places available in the Winter School 2020.

ESTHER Switzerland is opening a new Call for Proposals

ESTHER Switzerland is a network that engages Swiss hospitals and other health institutions in effective and sustainable North-South partnerships. Since 2016, the ESTHER Switzerland Secretariat is hosted by the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) in Bern.

Highlighting HIV and cancer in commemoration of World AIDS Day

Results from a collaborative research between the ISPM and the South African National Cancer Registry has resulted in a nationwide campaign on HIV and cancer in South Africa.

Strengthening the cooperation ISPM, Bern and Harvard

On December 11, 2019, Oscar Franco, Director of ISPM Bern will be giving a seminar at the Harvard T.H. Chan school of Public Health, co-sponsored by the departments of epidemiology and nutrition.

Uniform and complete cancer registration in Switzerland

The Cancer Registration Act enters into force on 1 January 2020. Press release of the National Agency of Cancer Registration (NACR) and the Childhood Cancer Registry (ChCR).

Innovative Teaching at ISPM

ISPM not only does innovative research, but innovative teaching, too. The ISPM Teaching Office joined the University of Bern's Promoting Innovative Teaching (FIL) project and received funding to develop and implement an adaptive online quiz for medical students in their fifth year.

CAS in Clinical Research in Health Care Organisations – registration open

The next course of advanced studies in clinical research starts with the kickoff meeting on the 23rd of April 2020. Registration is now open.

GHS Symposium 2019 Best Poster winner

Virginia Chiocchia, PhD student in the Evidence Synthesis Methods group at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), won the Prize for Best Poster at the 11th Symposium GHS held at Parkhotel Gunten on 19th and 20th November 2019.

Four ISPM Professors among the list of Highly Cited Researchers 2018

Professors Georgia Salanti, Matthias Egger, Marcel Zwahlen and Oscar H. Franco from ISPM Bern have been included in the 2018 list of world’s most influential researchers.

5 day course «Applied Logistic Regression» with Prof. Stanley Lemeshow and Dr. Ben Spycher

We are pleased to announce the 5day-course Applied Logistic Regression by Stanley Lemeshow and Ben Spycher taking place March 9-13, 2020 here in Bern.

Network meta-analyses: why, what, and how.

Interview with Georgia Salanti at the Effective Statistician.

Symposium «Clinical data for paediatric research: the Swiss approach»

Date 5./6.12.2019 – Front-line clinicians, paediatric researchers, families, and healthcare system strategizers in Switzerland need immediate access to real world data from electronic health records so they can conduct high quality research that will answer emerging questions in paediatrics and then implement their findings to improve paediatric health care.

The new Climate Change & Health research group at ISPM has just started

Our new research group on Climate Change and Health, led by Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera, has just been launched. The group will investigate the impacts of climate change on health, with particular focus on the evaluation of adaptation strategies, mitigation policies and air pollution co-benefits.

SSPH+ ScienceFlashTalk Winner

Serra Lem Asangbeh, PhD student at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), won the 2019 SSPH+ ScienceFlashTalk Award at the Swiss Public Health Conference in Winterthur on 28 August 2019.

SNSF Ambizione Grant on upper airways disease in Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia

Myrofora Goutaki has been awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione grant to characterise and provide first evidence for the management of upper airways disease in patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia in a large multi-national project.

Georgia Salanti was elected president of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology

The Society for Research Synthesis Methodology is a cross disciplinary society that supports and promotes the development and use of innovative and robust methods of research synthesis and publishes the journal Research Synthesis Methods.

Read this before it’s out of date: Zika Open Access Project in @NatureIndex

Living systematic reviews can keep up to date with research on Zika virus, a fast-moving field. Journalist Jon Brock features the PhD project of ISPM PhD student Michel Counotte «Zika virus: causality, open science and risks of emerging infectious diseases»

Two new PhD students in Sexual and Reproductive Health

Diana Buitrago won a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship and a SSPH+ GlobalP3HS Fellowship to study «The science of prevalence». Ranjana Gigi won a Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences MD-PhD award to study «Genital tract infections, the vaginal microbiome and preterm birth in South Africa».

Prof. Dr. Thomas Zeltner joins ISPM as Honorary Professor

Prof. Dr. Thomas Zeltner has an outstanding career in public health. Since 1992 he has been Professor of Public Health at the University of Bern and is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health (Boston). He serves as Deputy Chair of the University Council of the Medical University of Vienna (Austria).

Primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases for Albanian-speaking migrants living in Switzerland

In the framework of a new pilot project between the Research Group on Migration and Health and Diaspora TV Switzerland, we produced a video on the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases for Albanian-speaking migrants living in Switzerland, with the collaboration of Dr. Taulant Muka, Leader of the Research Group on Cardiometabolic Health.

National Strategy against Cancer – «every number is being used»

The Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR) – a success story since its foundation in 1976. A challenge with the cancer registration law coming into force in 2020.

Open spaces available in course «Prognostic Research: Concepts and Models»

Course date: 21–23 August 2019 - Prognostic research is fundamental to clinical decision making, healthcare policy, and discovering new approaches to patient management. In this course we describe the basic concepts used to develop, validate, and implement a prognostic model in clinical practice and discuss how a web-based calculator might be constructed to give a useful decision-making tool.

Professor Oscar H Franco appointed as Adjunct Professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Professor Oscar H Franco, Director of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) in Bern, has been appointed as Adjunct Professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Workshop «Infectious Disease Surveillance»

This workshop will take place November 25th, 2019 and provide an overview of the current state in the field of infectious disease surveillance, from the perspective of both data collection and data analysis.

Suicide ideation continues to be high in Swiss young adults

Suicide ideation is a well-known risk factor contributing to early mortality in young adults. The long-term project, «Young Adult Survey Switzerland» (YASS) 2014/15 has shown that the proportion of Swiss young men with suicidal thoughts has since 2010/11 remained fairly stable, and high, at about 12%.

Agreement on joint academic and scientific activities focused on cardiovascular disease prevention

The Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) and the University of Bern signed an agreement with the Federal State Budgetary Organization National Cardiology Research Center of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The objective of this agreement is to develop joint academic and scientific activities mainly focused on cardiovascular disease prevention.

Global disparities in cervical cancer rates among women with HIV

A study by an international group of researchers led by a team at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, found that the incidence rates of cervical cancer are particularly high among women living with HIV in South Africa or Latin America.

ISPM PhD student Carmen de Jong wins prize for best oral presentation

Carmen de Jong won the prize for best oral presentation of the SwissPedNet Translational & Clinical Research session with her talk «Diagnosing asthma accurately in school-aged children suspected to have asthma» at the Swiss Conference for Pediatrics (SGP).

Two members of the ISPM staff nominated Fellows of SSPH+

Two members of the ISPM staff have been nominated Fellows of SSPH+: Taulant Muka, Leader of the Research Group on Cardiometabolic Health, and Luciano Ruggia, Leader of the Research Group on Migration and Health.

Inauguration of the Bern Center for Precision Medicine (BCPM)

Precision medicine “tailored” to individual patients is regarded as the medicine of the future. The new Bern Center for Precision Medicine will exploit synergies and strengthen the medicinal location in Bern. The Bern Center for Precision Medicine is an initiative founded by the Canton, the University, and the University Hospital of Bern.

For a stronger new Swiss Law on tobacco products

ISPM joins forces with other public health actors to advocate for a stronger Swiss Law on tobacco products. The new law should better protect the youth from tobacco consumption, should forbid advertisement for tobacco products and should aim at a decrease of tobacco consumption in the Swiss population.

Teacher of the year 2018 in Master of Public Health

Julia Bohlius has been awarded as «Teacher of the year 2018» in the three University MPH program for her course «Einführung in systematische Reviews und Meta-Analysen».

SNSF Grant on quality of care in eosinophilic esophagitis

Ekaterina Safroneeva has been awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation grant to develop process-of-care measures and identify long-term treatment targets for adults with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Increasingly recognized though not commonly seen, EoE is a chronic, immune-mediated disease in which untreated inflammation leads to esophageal remodeling with stricture formation and food bolus impactions.

Teacher of the year 2018

Thomas Abel has been selected as «Teacher of 2018» in the three University MPH program for his course «Grundlagen der Gesundheitswissenschaft und Sozialepidemiologie».

Report about Medicus Mundi Switzerland (MMS) in Television

MMSs new manifesto «Health for all in one generation» as well as the work of the network MMS attracted the attention of Ticino television and was presented in a multi-minute report by the broadcaster Il Quotidiano. ISPM is one of the 50 organizations members of the MMS network.

ISPM2030 – Vision, Aim, Mission online

The 2018 report «ISPM2030 – Vision, Aim, Mission» is now available online

Portrait article about Matthias Egger in journal «The Lancet. Infectious diseases.»

A portrait article about Matthias Egger was published in the March issue of the journal «The Lancet. Infectious diseases.». In the same issue, the publication «Drug susceptibility testing and mortality in patients treated for tuberculosis in high-burden countries: a multicentre cohort study» was also published.

Video podcast

Faster and trustworthy guidelines for shared decision making: Experience from the BMJ Rapid Recommendations - Seminar by Dr. Thomas Agoritsas, 21.02.2019

CAS in Clinical Research in Health Care Organisations – application deadline

One month left to sign up for the next course of advanced studies in clinical research – application deadline March 15, 2019.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis: high mortality rate due to inaccurate tests

Inaccurate tests carried out on tuberculosis patients in developing countries often fail to reliablydetect resistance to drugs, leading to incorrect treatment and a higher mortality rate. These are the results of study by an international group of researchers led by a team at the University of Bern published today.

Trends in influenza vaccination uptake in Switzerland: Swiss Health Survey 2007 and 2012

It’s influenza (flu) season again in Switzerland, and this week the virus reached the epidemic threshold. Flu takes more lives than any other infectious disease in Europe, but a simple and effective yearly vaccine can reduce the chance you will catch it.

10th Swiss Epidemiology Winter School started

The 10th Swiss Epidemiology Winter School takes place during this week in Wengen from January 21st to 26th 2019.

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